imitation game movie

[Fred Cisin]

On Tue, 10 Feb 2015, Noel Chiappa wrote:
> Here's my list (in temporal order):
> ABC - first electronic digital computing device
> COLOSSUS - first large-scale electronic digital computing device heavily used
> 	for actual work
> ENIAC - first general-purpose electronic digital computing device
> Manchester Baby - first operational stored-program computer
> EDSAC - first stored-program computer heavily used for actual work

Thanks for breaking it out.

Unfortunately, there is a human obsession with "first", and it often
goes with an assumption that only one category can truly be declared
a "computer", resulting in rejection of all other categories.

And, sometimes after somebody makes a decision, others will be brought
up, triggering a creative redefinition of "computer" or of "first" so
as to exclude the new entry.

Is "first" a matter of which nose or which hoof crosses the finish line?
First designed?
First built?
First sold?
First shipped?
First commercially available?
First working?
Do prototypes count?

The times, technologies, and even politics became ripe for the
development.  LOTS of people were building "firsts". Selecting
a "first" is an impractical art.


--
Grumpy Ol' Fred     		cisin at xenosoft.com